Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses reveal the mechanisms for red fruit coloration in peach cv. ‘Zhongyoupan 9’ under artificial darkness

作者：Tiyu Ding, Xinxin Ma, Xue-Li Yu, Lirong Wang, Ruijin Zhou, Xiao-Jin Hou, Ya‐Lin Zhao · 发表于：Journal of Integrative Agriculture · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jia.2025.06.011 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Plant Gene Expression Analysis、Light effects on plants、Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities

Although bagging-produced flat peaches are increasingly favored by consumers, this process suppresses anthocyanin production and fruit coloring in most peach cultivars. Several peach cultivars, including ‘Zhongyoupan 9,’ which has experienced rapid cultivation expansion, exhibit a light-independent anthocyanin biosynthesis pattern and can accumulate anthocyanins under artificial darkness. However, the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We studied two types of flat peaches, namely, ‘Zhongpan 17’, with light-dependent anthocyanin biosynthesis pattern, and ‘Zhongyoupan 9’, with light-independent anthocyanin biosynthesis pattern. The anthocyanin content in the pericarp of ‘Zhongyoupan 9’ was significantly higher than that of ‘Zhongpan 17.’ Metabolomics revealed that the significant increase in anthocyanins (specifically cyanidin-3-O-glucoside) was the direct cause of the coloration of ‘Zhongyoupan 9’ under artificial darkness. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that PpHY5 (long hypocotyl 5) was upregulated in ‘Zhongyoupan 9’ and downregulated in ‘Zhongpan17’ and its expression profile was positively associated with color changes in both varieties. The function of PpHY5 in positively modulating anthocyanin biosynthesis was demonstrated by the decrease in anthocyanin concentration in peach fruit transfected with a PpHY5 virus-induced gene-silencing construct. These results indicate that the PpHY5 gene may modulate red color change in ‘Zhongyoupan 9’ under artificial darkness.